NATIONAL-LEVEL MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY THE WORK OF THE UN

NATIONAL-LEVEL MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY: THE WORK OF THE UN DCF Nikhil Seth Director, OESC, UNDESA DCF High-Level Symposium Bamako, 6 May 2012

CONTEXT n n n Mutual Accountability: one key workstream of DCF itself is a key global mutual accountability forum Second phase (2008 -10): u Comprehensive analysis/discussion at symposia of: « Global and Regional Mutual Accountability « Global and National Level Transparency « (especially) National Level MA « Agreement of best practice norms « All in International Development Cooperation Report n Third phase (2010 -2012) Deepening analysis u National-level enhancement of MA and transparency in cooperation with UNDP (“country-level results”) 2 u

NATIONAL-LEVEL MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY n n n Key goal of Monterrey, Doha, Paris, Accra to enhance national level mutual accountability for the effective delivery and development results of development cooperation Little progress pre-2008 (Paris Declaration survey) Therefore DCF 2010 survey: Comprehensive questionnaire aiming to cover all aspects of national-level MA/transparency u 70 countries covered: 41 replied “yes” and described MA, 16 replied “none” and 13 by desk study/email u Process led by governments, variable participation of other stakeholders via IPU/Better Aid cooperation u 3

2010 SURVEY FINDINGS n Definition of national-level MA: u n n as well as being held accountable for development results and aid management, programme countries hold providers collectively and individually accountable for aid. On this basis, only 7 countries had national MA, change in provider behaviour patchy, only 2 involve parliaments, local government and civil society Key building-blocks bringing success are: national aid policy u locally-driven aid quality/results monitoring frameworks, including annual targets for individual providers; u comprehensive databases monitoring quality and results; u annual report and high-level meeting to discuss progress 4 u

2010 RECOMMENDATIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. Annual review of national MA mechanisms for presence of “components for success”, and progress in changing behaviour and increasing results: → DCF 2011 survey Improve existing mechanisms to spread best practice, and establish new mechanisms in many countries in 2010 -11, with support from global or regional programmes for systematic capacity-building to governments → UNDP Separate programmes to reinforce capacity of parliaments, local governments and CSOs on MA and wider aid issues (not much progress but beginning to move) For individual providers: systematic participation in national-level MA processes with targets for individual providers (EU agreement, US + UN public commitment) 5

2011 NATIONAL MA SURVEY n n Preliminary results, still being conducted Conducted simultaneously with Paris Declaration survey (still ongoing) 89 countries surveyed, 39 responses, another 20 expected but mostly those with little MA progress Much greater and more systematic involvement of non-executive stakeholders – IPU and Better Aid systematically mobilising counterparts to participate at national level 6

SLIGHTLY MORE AID POLICIES, SLIGHTLY MORE PRECISE TARGETS 7

RECIPIENT GOVERNMENT CHANGE 8

PROVIDER CHANGE 9